In order to investigate the effects of early punitive experience on the development of attachment to a rearing figure and on subsequent socialization, infant squirrel monkeys were raised with inanimate surrogate mothers that administered punishment in the form of airblast. During the past year airblasts occurred on a random schedule in which the airblast stimulus was "set" to be activated in randomly selected 1-hour periods during the day. When an infant climbed on its surrogate during these periods the infant was punished continuously until it got off the surrogate. Punishment was administered on this schedule between the ages of 6 and 36 weeks, from approximately 0900-1600 hours daily, Monday through Friday. Infants reared in this manner did not differ in the amount of time spent in contact with their surrogate from nonpunished controls, who had their surrogates removed for 1-hour periods during the day. However, punished animals did display a significantly greater frequency of bizarre behaviors in their home cages, and showed weaker preferences for their surrogate in a choice situation. Although these differences between punished and nonpunished subjects were statistically significant, the magnitude of effects obtained with the airblast punishment was less than anticipated, and may reflect the relative resiliency of infants in adjusting to such conditions.